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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381643">you're a part of me (now 'til eternity)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberryghoulaid/pseuds/raspberryghoulaid'>raspberryghoulaid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Before the Boys Became Ghosts, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Comfort fic, First Kiss, Fondness, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pre-Canon, Reggie's Parents Are Assholes, Sunset Curve (Julie and The Phantoms), pre-death, ruke - Freeform, slight angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:40:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,427</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381643</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberryghoulaid/pseuds/raspberryghoulaid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>through all of the pain, Luke and Reggie are there for each other when they need each other the most. sometimes, in unexpected ways.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>258</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>you're a part of me (now 'til eternity)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Luke runs away from home, it isn’t with a plan. Guitar strung on his back, he wanders aimlessly around LA for what feels like hours until his feet lead him somewhere he hasn’t even realized he’s been heading towards until he’s at the front door. He considers turning back, it’s late, and everyone inside is probably asleep. Perhaps he can sneak into Alex's garage again-surely after six times his bandmate's parents would just give up on trying to kick him out. He just needs a place to stay for one night while he figures things out, to get out of the rain, find a place to collect his thoughts.</p><p>“Luke?”</p><p>Well, there goes that plan. Turning towards the voice, Luke watches Reggie emerge from the backdoor of his house, ratty grey duffel slung over his shoulder. Luke’s face immediately falls.</p><p>“Reg…..” He starts to say, but the other boy silences him with a wave of his hand.</p><p>“I don’t wanna talk about it now, Luke.” As the black-haired boy draws closer, Luke can see the tear stains on his cheeks and frowns.</p><p>“Tonight’s just not our night is it?” Luke laughs satirically. Reggie just shakes his head, walking past the other boy and out onto the beachfront. Luke can hear the voices from inside the house growing louder, but Reggie doesn’t even seem to register it. “Hey, Reg, wait up.” He ignores the growing argument behind the closed door, and trails behind his bandmate. “Where are you going?”</p><p>Reggie shrugs. “I don’t usually know. I kinda just walk until I don’t feel like walking anymore.” Luke can tell that his bandmate is trying so hard to act unphased by the situation, but he knows him well enough to read the pain behind the words, and recognize the way Reggie’s shoulders hang in defeat.</p><p>“Wanna go to the studio? It’s probably warmer than it is out here.” Luke suggests, already feeling the night breeze begin to nip at his bare arms-why didn’t any of his shirts have sleeves again?</p><p>“Okay.” Reggie agrees lifelessly. This isn’t him, and Luke knows it. This isn’t the bright, cheerful Reggie that slips country songs into his notebooks or practically glows when Luke caves and tells him he can get pineapple on the pizza. This Reggie was broken, and Luke was determined to put him back together.</p><p>The studio has a bathroom, where Luke soaks in the shower for a bit before rejoining Reggie, deciding to give the boy some time to himself, as well as a pullout bed, and it’s not the most comfortable, but it's comfortable enough for one night. Reggie is already sprawled out across the pullout when Luke returns, rubbing at his wet head with a towel. He doesn’t acknowledge Luke’s presence at first, but when the lead singer moves to grab his guitar from where it’s resting against the piano, Reggie perks up, following the other boy’s movements with his gaze.</p><p>“Do you wanna talk about it now?” Luke has never been too good at consoling his friends, he knows that. It’s more Alex’s area of expertise. But Alex isn’t here now, Luke is, and he isn’t going to let Reggie deal with this on his own, no matter how awkward it might be for him. Reggie is silent for a few seconds before he shifts his position so he’s sitting up, drawing his knees to his chest. Luke’s fingers begin to strum purposelessly over the chords of his guitar.</p><p>“Sometimes I think my parents wouldn’t be fighting if it wasn’t for me,” Reggie starts, not meeting Luke’s eyes. “My dad tells me everything was perfect before I came along, and I’m just burdening them. So I leave, and when I do, everything seems okay. Until I make the mistake of going back, and I feel like I’m just thrown into the same cycle all over again. I know they’re better off without me, but they’re my parents, you know? They’re the only family I have.” He’s crying again now, the tears brimming in his eyes and spilling over his cheeks.</p><p>Luke swallows thickly, his thoughts drifting back to his own home life. Parental issues are something that were all too familiar, something that the three of them have always regrettably shared. “That’s not true, Reg,” He says firmly. “You have me, and Alex. <em>We’re</em> a family, we’ve always been.”</p><p>Reggie winds his arms around his legs, tucking tighter into himself. “I know,” He says quietly. “And I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or unappreciative, because I love you guys, you know that.” He says shakily, wipes his tears away with his palms and the mere sight of it makes Luke’s heart shatter. “There’s just something I can’t shake off about them, my parents. No matter how much their words hurt or how bad they treat me, I just can’t seem to break loose.”</p><p>Luke puts aside his guitar and joins the other boy on the pullout. Their arms brush against each other and Reggie finally meets his gaze. “My mom and I are constantly fighting,” Luke tells him slowly, his hands curling at his sides. “Sometimes it feels like we’ll never really stop.” There’s a knot in his throat that wasn’t there before, and he feels his fingernails dig into the skin of his palms. “I get it, Reg.”</p><p>Reggie smiles at him, and Luke can’t control himself anymore. Without warning, he throws himself at the other boy, nearly knocking them both over as he envelops his friend in an embrace. Reggie responds instantly, wrapping his arms around Luke’s body snugly. Luke buries his face in the fabric of Reggie’s flannel and Reggie grasps at Luke’s tee shirt to hold onto. They stay like that for what feels like an eternity, neither one of them having the strength to let go of this moment they have together, for fear of it all floating away if they dare to release each other.</p><p>Eventually it’s Reggie that pulls back first, but his hand still lingers on the small of Luke’s back, keeping him close. “Thanks, Luke.” He says quietly. “I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”</p><p>Maybe it’s the way the distance between them gradually seems to get smaller and smaller, or the feeling of Reggie’s skin against his palm as Luke’s hand reaches up to cradle the other boy’s cheek, but Luke can’t think of anything other than how easy it’d be to kiss Reggie right now. To dip down just slightly, angle his jaw just so to make it all too effortless to capture his bandmate’s lips with his own. Luke’s thumb brushes a tear from Reggie’s cheek, and Reggie’s breath hitches in his throat.</p><p>“Can I kiss you?” Luke whispers, because he has enough sense to know not to just go around kissing people. He wants Reggie to want it just as much as he does. In response, the other boy surges forward to press their lips together, and Luke melts into the touch instantaneously. Everything about Reggie is soft, and where Luke is all ragged edges and calloused skin (he refuses to use a pick when playing guitar), Reggie is gentle touches and fingertips smooth as velvet as they trace Luke’s bare arms. Kissing Reggie is captivating, and instinctive, and it’s something he never wants to stop doing.</p><p>A small whimper escapes Reggie’s lips, and when Luke breaks away there’s a redness that blossoms in Reggie’s cheeks and clashes against his porcelain skin. It causes Luke to smirk. “Did that really just h-happen or am I dreaming?” Reggie trips over his words flusteredly, and Luke laughs, raising his eyebrows.</p><p>“Do you dream of me, Reg?” He teases, and Reggie only blushes harder. Before the other boy can respond, Luke’s kissing him again, slowly and tenderly, Reggie’s lips parting to let him in. He doesn’t know how long they lay there for, idly swapping kisses and grinning whenever their lips meet again and again and again, but <em>God</em>, they look like two thirteen year olds experiencing their first crush, and the worst part is Luke can’t even bring himself to care.</p><p>“I think I love you, Reg.” Luke tells him after a while, as they lay together on the pullout, Luke’s head nestled in Reggie’s shoulder as the other boy’s fingers comb through his damp hair affectionately. Reggie’s movements pause for the briefest of moments, and Luke can practically <em>feel</em> the smile radiating from him even though he doesn’t see the other boy’s face.</p><p>“I think I love you, too, Luke.”</p>
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